


Rituals

by ivyspinners



Category: Emelan - Tamora Pierce
Genre: Found Families, Gen, Goldenlake SMACKDOWN
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-12
Updated: 2011-04-12
Packaged: 2018-10-18 00:13:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10605267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ivyspinners/pseuds/ivyspinners
Summary: Briar didn't notice, but he'd developed a special ritual with each of the three girls at Discipline.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for SMACKDOWN 2011.

Briar wasn't sure when, exactly, they had fallen into a rhythm.

But they had.

Briar didn't notice, but he'd developed a special ritual with each of the other three girls at Discipline. In the mornings, there were, of course, the chores; after them, and after meditation, he spent time training with Daja, coming to admire her skill with the staff. In the evenings, Lark gave Sandry free reign in guiding him -- and Tris and Daja too -- in spinning. With Tris, it was reading and writing lessons. She would patiently show him letters, progressing to words, progressing to longer words and plant names that he brought her.

Once upon a time, falling too much into a habit meant an ambush by a rival gang. He would have laughed at it, remembering how he alternated between exits, how the hours of his day swayed and slipped between the light and the night. How his blood pumped with adrenaline.

How the only constant, the only ritual, was how failure aligned with scarcity of food and sleeping with untended wounds.

Briar couldn't quite bring himself to regret the change.


End file.
